04.16.09
Chris Rink
757-864-6786, 757-344-7711
christopher.p.rink@nasa.govRELEASE: 09-029
09-029: NASA SCIENTIST SPEAKS AT THOMAS NELSON FOR EARTH DAY
HAMPTON, Va. -- Air pollution in the United States impacts human
health, costs American farmers billions of dollars annually in crop
loss and reduced productivity, and decreases the vitality of U.S.
forests especially in the east.
Dr. Jack Fishman, a senior research scientist in the Science
Directorate at NASA's Langley Research Center, will speak at Thomas
Nelson Community College at 7 p.m. on April 21, 2009, as part of
NASA's weeklong celebration of Earth Day. Sponsored by the Chemistry
Department, Fishman's talk will be in the Espada Conference Center of
the Hampton campus. It is free and open to the public.
Entitled "Satellite Observations of Air Pollution: Local Impacts Seen
from a Global Perspective," the talk will focus on how NASA
scientists have used satellite measurements to observe and understand
the complex interaction between local sources of pollution and how
the Earth's atmosphere has been modified on a global scale.
Since the 1970s, scientists and engineers at NASA Langley have been in
the forefront of measuring air pollution from space. They are
developing the next generation of instruments to better understand
the mechanisms that lead to widespread air pollution episodes and to
better forecast the impact of such events.
Fishman has been a research scientist for 35 years studying the
composition of the troposphere and developing computer models that
provide insight into the processes controlling atmospheric chemistry.
For the past two decades, he has been a pioneer in the use of
existing satellites to study global pollution. Fishman is currently
working toward the development of NASA's next generation satellites
devoted to measuring air pollution.
At NASA Langley, Science Directorate researchers are working to find
answers to questions that affect the health of the planet and the
people on it. For more information:
http://science.larc.nasa.gov/
www.nasa.gov/earthday

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